1 . Scientists visiting tiny Henderson Island in the South Pacific recently made an alarming discovery. Although it is one of the most remote places on the earth and previously untouched by humans, the island was covered in plastic waste. They calculated there were 38 million pieces of plastic, weighing almost 18 tons, with thousands of new pieces washing up each day. “No country has a free pass-we found plastic from everywhere,” said one scientist. “We all have a responsibility, and we have to sit up and pay attention. This is not an issue to ignore. We need to do something now to protect the sea.”
Plastic waste in the sea has long been known about, but only now are we discovering the true extent of the problem. Plastic takes hundreds of years to decompose, so all the plastic ever produced still exists somewhere. Around 95% of plastics made are not recycled, and large amounts enter the sea. Currents collect this waste in large circular systems called “gyres”. One of the largest is in the Pacific Ocean, an area now known as the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch”.
The problem gets worse as plastic breaks down into very small pieces, or “micro plastic”. This is eaten by fish and leads to massive species loss. Humans also eat these fish, and micro plastic has even been found in tap water around the world. The problem has spread too far to ignore. The plastic on Henderson Island accounts for just 2 seconds’ worth of global annual plastic production. That production will more than triple by 2050. Then there will be the same weight of plastic in the sea as fish.
However, there are some young minds working to clean up and protect the sea for future generations. While diving in Greece, young Boyan Slat noticed there was more plastic waste than fish. He decided right then to dedicate his life to solving this problem. Previously the problem was considered too big to solve; collecting the plastic with boats and nets would be expensive, would harm sea life, and would take thousands of years! But, Boyan thought, why move through the sea when the sea can move through you? To work with the currents and gyres would help collect the waste. So he started The Ocean Cleanup project, which places very long floating barriers in the Pacific. Currents then concentrate the waste naturally so it can be collected and recycled. He hopes to reduce the patch by 50% in just five years.
“Many problems today are side effects of things people didn’t think about in the past”, he says. Sea plastic is a symbol of the negative effects of our lifestyle and technology. Our aim should be to create a new lifestyle for this century. Protecting the sea from plastic is a good place to start.
1. What alarming discovery did the scientists make?| A．They discovered a tiny island in the South Pacific Ocean. |
| B．They discovered there was plastic everywhere on Henderson Island. |
| C．They discovered that there was no human beings on Henderson Island. |
| D．They discovered Henderson Island was the most remote place in the world. |
| A．Micro plastic is merely harmful to the fish in the sea. |
| B．Not all the countries have to face the problem of plastic trash. |
| C．Nowadays there is the same weight of plastic in the sea as fish. |
| D．Most plastics made are not recycled, and large amounts enter the sea. |
| A．How the Ocean Cleanup project works. |
| B．The problem of plastic cleanup is too big to tackle. |
| C．Let the sea itself decompose the plastic waste naturally. |
| D．Collecting plastic with boats and nets would be a good way. |
| A．Considerate and straightforward. | B．Intelligent and responsible. |
| C．Knowledgeable and sensitive. | D．Devoted and courageous. |
2 . France has changed the rules in its grocery stores and marketplaces. Starting on January 1, 2022, most fresh fruits and vegetables can no longer be packaged for salern plastic.
Under the new law, more than 30 types of fruits and vegetables must now be sold in materials that can be recycled. Potatoes, tomatoes, apples and carrots are some of the items included in the list. Plastic will still be allowed for packs that are over 1.5 kilograms. Smaller items such as raspberries and cherry tomatoes can still be sold in plastic for now, but the country plans to ban (禁止) all single-use plastic packaging for whole fruits and vegetables by 2026.
This ban on plastic packaging is part of a broader effort by France to control plastic waste across a range of sectors. Other efforts include preventing restaurants from including plastic toys in children’s meals, newspapers and magazines from being delivered in plastic, and tea bags being sold in plastic packages. Furthermore, public locations must provide water refill stations to disincentivize the use of single-use water bottles.
It’s believed that 37% of fresh fruits and vegetables are wrapped in plastic in France. The government says the new ban will stop one billion pieces of plastic from being used each year.
Not everyone is happy with the change. François Roch, president of the French fruit sellers’ federation, told Reuters, “Selling loose produce is complicated (复杂的) as many customers touch the fruit and people do not want their fruit to be touched by other customers.”
The ban will likely require a change in habits Shoppers will probably have to take their own reusable bags to fill and weigh. It will be interesting to see how France deals with the complications that come with selling loose produce, and whether other countries follow suit, once a precedent (先例) has been set.
1. What’s the purpose of the new ban?| A．To reduce plastic waste. | B．To control overspending. |
| C．To recycle plastic products. | D．To fight over-packaging. |
| A．Ignore. | B．Measure. | C．Increase. | D．Discourage. |
| A．Relaxed. | B．Dissatisfied. | C．Surprised. | D．Interested. |
| A．More attention to a healthy lifestyle. | B．A change in customers’ shopping habits. |
| C．Fewer tips to stores and supermarkets. | D．A drop in the sale of fruits and vegetables. |
3 . As awareness of climate change grows, so does the desire to do something about it. One way to gain a quantifiable (可量化的) understanding of the impacts of our actions, for good and bad, is through what is known as a carbon footprint. While the concept is gaining traction, it is not always fully understood.
According to Mike Berners-Lee, a professor at Lancaster University in the UK and author of The Carbon Footprint of Everything, a carbon footprint is “the sum total of all the greenhouse gas emissions that had to take place in order for a product to be produced or for an activity to take place.”
What steps a person can take to reduce their personal footprint depends on the kind of lifestyle they presently live, and the same actions are not equally effective for everyone. Berners-Lee notes that, “for some people, flying may be 10 percent of their footprint, for some people it’s zero, and for some it’s such a huge number that it should be the only thing they should be thinking about.”
It isn’t easy to calculate a carbon footprint. The earliest such calculator is thought to have appeared in 2004 as part of the “Beyond Petroleum” campaign of oil giant BP, which makes observers criticize the pressure to reduce personal carbon footprints as an indication that climate change is not the fault of an oil giant, but that of individuals.
“I would say personal carbon footprint calculators are a useful tool to assess the impact of your immediate actions.” Berners-Lee says. “But what’s much more important than your personal carbon footprint is your climate shadow, which aims to paint a picture of the full sum of one’s choices and the impact they have on the planet. For example, how you vote, where you work, how you invest your money, and how much you talk about climate change.”
1. What does the underlined word “traction” in paragraph 1 probably mean?| A．Control. | B．Insight. | C．Attention. | D．Power. |
| A．By presenting a fact. | B．By giving suggestions. |
| C．By clarifying a concept. | D．By making a comparison. |
| A．Unclear. | B．Favorable. | C．Tolerant. | D．Disapproving. |
| A．Tools are more important than choices. |
| B．Climate shadow covers a broad range of actions. |
| C．Calculating carbon footprint is the most effective. |
| D．Only individuals are responsible for climate change. |
4 . In 1960 the Aral Sea was one of the world’s largest inland water bodies, covering an area of approximately 68,000 square kilometers (26,000 square miles). By the year 2000 the area covered by the Aral Sea had become less than half its 1960 size, its volume reduced by 80 percent. By about 2010 all that will remain will be three shallow remnants.
What caused the Aral Sea to evaporate over the past 40 years? As recently as 1965, the Aral Sea received about 50 cubic kilometers (12 cubic miles) of fresh water per year. By the early 1980s this number had declined to nearly zero. The reason was that the waters of the Amu Darya and Syr Darya had been diverted to supply a major expansion of irrigated agriculture in this dry realm.
The intensive irrigation has greatly increased agricultural productivity, but not without significant costs. The deltas of the two major rivers have lost their wetlands, and wildlife has disappeared. The once thriving fishing industry has been eliminated, and the 24 species of fish that once inhabited the Aral Sea are no longer there. The shoreline is now tens of kilometers from the towns that were once fishing centers.
The shrinking sea has exposed millions of acres of former seabed to sun and wind. The surface is covered with salt and agrochemicals brought by the rivers. Strong winds routinely pick up thousands of tons of newly exposed materials every year and deposit them throughout the region. This process has not only contributed to a significant reduction in air quality for the region’s population, but has also appreciably reduced crop yields due to the deposits of salt-rich sediments on farmable land.
The shrinking Aral Sea has had a noticeable impact on climate. Without the moderating effect of a large water body, there are greater extremes of temperature, a shorter growing season, and reduced local precipitation. These changes have caused many farms to switch from growing cotton to growing rice, which demands even more diverted water.
1. Why have crop yields been reduced on the land surrounding the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya?| A．The Aral Sea no longer provides the land with fresh water for irrigation. |
| B．The farmers have stopped using chemical fertilizers. |
| C．The salt content of the soil has increased. |
| D．Erosion due to wind has increased. |
| A．forcefully |
| B．necessarily |
| C．unfortunately |
| D．regularly |
| A．Rice requires less water. |
| B．Rice is cheaper to grow. |
| C．Rice needs a shorter growing season. |
| D．Rice has less impact on climate. |
World Olive Tree Day takes place on 26 November every year. It
The olive tree, especially the olive branch, holds an important place
Protecting and growing the olive tree is
World Olive Tree Day is set up
There is much to learn, share and celebrate on World Olive Tree Day, and UNESCO encourages everyone to participate in
My target in life is
There is no debating that we also have a problem with population. The number of people in the world keeps growing, and we
7 . A method to transform a commonly thrown-away plastic to a resin (树脂) used in 3D printing could allow for making better use of plastic waste. A team of Washington State University researchers developed a simple and efficient way to transform polylactic acid (PLA)(聚乳酸), a bio-based plastic used in products such as filament, plastic silverware and food packaging to a high-quality resin.
“We found a way to immediately turn this into something that’s stronger and better, and we hope that will provide people the inspiration to upcycle this stuff instead of just throw it away,” said Yu-Chung Chang, a postdoctoral researcher in the WSU School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering and a co-corresponding author on the work. “We made stronger materials just straight out of trash. We believe this could be a great opportunity.”
Although it’s bio-based, PLA, which is categorized as a number 7 plastic, doesn’t break down easily. It can float in fresh or salt water for a year without degrading (降解). It is also rarely recycled because like many plastics, when it’s melted down and re-formed, it doesn’t perform as well as the original version and becomes less valuable.
“It’s biodegradable and compostable, but once you look into it, it turns out that it can take up to 100 years for it to rot away in a landfill,” Chang said. “In reality, it still creates a lot of pollution. We want to make sure that when we do start producing PLA on the milliontons scale, we will know how to deal with it.”
While the researchers focused on PLA for the study, they hope to apply the work to poly-ethylene terephthalate (PET) (涤纶树脂), which is more common than PLA and has a similar chemical structure and presents a bigger waste problem. They have filed a temporary patent and are working to further optimize (优化) the process. The researchers are also looking into other applications for the upcycling method.
1. What can the method help do according to paragraph 1?| A．Solve financial crisis. | B．Change waste into wealth. |
| C．Control plastic production. | D．Determine 3D printing skills. |
| A．Promising. | B．Unrealistic. | C．Imaginable. | D．Reliable. |
| A．Invaluable to recycle. | B．Easy to deal with. |
| C．Hard to break down. | D．Difficult to sort out. |
| A．Applications for an upcylcing method. |
| B．A better method to break down plastic. |
| C．3D printing with newly found materials. |
| D．A new way to turn plastic into valuable products. |
8 . A newly developed disposable paper battery promises to make a big impact on single-use electronics. The battery that has been demonstrated by researchers is biodegradable (可生物降解的), made from sustainable materials, and cheap to put together. What’s more, it can be produced in a variety of shapes and sizes as needed.
To give an idea of the power, a two-cell battery was enough to power an LCD alarm clock. While it won’t be charging up your computer anytime soon, there’s lots of potential for low-powered sensors. “We present a printed paper battery developed to power single-use disposable electronics and to reduce their environmental impact to the lowest level,” write the researchers in their published paper.
The battery is based on a metal-air electrochemical cell. Made from sodium chloride salt-diffused (氯化钠盐扩散的) paper, it can measure as little as one square centimeter, and is based on printed inks. All that’s needed, then, is a small amount of water, as little as two drops. This dissolves the salts within the paper, and then activates the battery as they travel. The battery starts producing power around 20 seconds after water is added, according to the experiments carried out by the team.
Although the performance decreases over time as the paper dries out, it can be topped up to some extent with more water. The researchers say they want to improve the efficiency of the battery in the future, and get it working for longer.
“With a rising awareness of the e-waste problem and the emergence of single-use electronics for applications, there is a growing need for low environmental impact batteries,” write the researchers.
1. Which of the following statement about the paper battery is true?| A．It is made from single-use materials. | B．It is costly to put together. |
| C．It can be produced in diverse shapes. | D．It can be used to charge up your computer. |
| A．How the paper battery works. | B．What the paper battery consists of. |
| C．Why the paper battery is popular. | D．Where the paper battery can be applied. |
| A．Declined | B．Maintained | C．Increased | D．Changed |
| A．Indifferent | B．Pessimistic | C．Cautious | D．Promising |
9 . A student-led push to get solar panels installed at a middle school in Tacoma is receiving national recognition from a clean energy nonprofit organization called Generation 180. The girls involved are advocating and fundraising for the project.
Sammy Firkins, Gwen Newport and Annie Son will talk about their idea to generate solar electricity at Jason Lee Middle School in a panel discussion organized by Generation 180. In 2019, the three of them teamed up with their science teacher, Kathy Hall, to push for solar panels to be installed. Hall, who uses solar power at her own house, said it’s long been a dream of hers. The school would be the first in the Tacoma district to use solar energy.
The girls presented their idea to Gov. Jay Inslee’s STEM Education Innovation Alliance meeting in early 2019 and received enthusiastic support. They then spoke to the Tacoma school board and obtained buy-in from the district, though they were told the district did not have the roughly $ 200,000 for the 277 solar panels and that they would have to fundraise. They’ve since raised more than half that amount through grants and individual donations.
Gwen Newport said she’s always cared a lot about environmental issues and that she’s troubled that climate change does not get the attention it deserves. “At this point, I feel like it’s kind of been given to my generation almost as our responsibility now and so being able to be a part of this project and take action is really important to me,” she said.
The solar panels have not been installed at the school yet. But Hall said she estimates that the project will reduce the school’s power costs by about $ 14,000 a year, and that it also will serve an educational purpose. “We will have live data always streaming available so that people can see how the panels are working and how they relate to the amount of electricity we’re using, and it will be an incredible learning tool,” she said.
1. What is Generation 180?| A．It is the name of the girls’ team. |
| B．It is a project to use solar power. |
| C．It is a nonprofit environmental group. |
| D．It is a student-led push to install solar panels. |
| A．The girls raised enough money for the project. |
| B．The Tacoma school board rejected the project. |
| C．The girls made great efforts to fulfill the project. |
| D．The district covered the expenses of solar panels. |
| A．Confident. | B．Concerned. | C．Relieved. | D．Content. |
| A．To advocate for donations. |
| B．To serve as a learning tool. |
| C．To protect the environment. |
| D．To cut down the school’s expenses. |
China has developed a technology that is able to transform desert lands into available soil. The technology
According to CGTN (中国国际电视台), Chinese scientists have achieved success in growing crops in areas with bad conditions caused by lack of rain and
Researchers are looking into expanding their project this fall, with
